Capstanless magnetic tape drive with electronic equivalent to length of tape
US4500965A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 4, 1982 |
| Grant date | Feb 19, 1985 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 4, 2002 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0656
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A magnetic tape drive capable of simulating the performance of a fast acceleration start/stop tape drive without a capstan drive or vacuum columns. A streaming type tape drive is provided with a semiconductor cache memory for storing data which may be written on, and data read from, a length of magnetic tape. Circuitry, including a microprocessor, DMA controller and service requests, handles data transfer between a host and the tape via the cache memory so that delays due to tape accelerations and decelerations are masked and the host can instantaneously read data bi-directionally and instantaneously switch between read and write operations.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.